New build Critique Plz

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KarsusTG

2[H]4U
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Aug 27, 2010
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Building a new computer around the first of the month. I will be running on air cooling. My house doesn't have air conditioning but I have never really seen it get above about 82 in my computer room, and nowhere near that the majority of the day. I will be running 3 monitors at 1920x1200. I primarily use the computer for mid range gaming and video compiling and compression. Starcraft II, Eve Online, some WoW, Supreme commander FA, and Dragon Age are the games I play mostly. I usually am watching tv, Running vent, listening to music, surfing the net, and playing one of these game at the same time. At the very least. Here is what I was looking at for my build.

Chip:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211 $300

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665 $200

Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227538 $310

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136456 $180

Really torn on video.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130570 $220 x2

Or just get one and OC it fairly well. Or just get stronger card like a 5870 or 480.

What do you think? Suggestions?
 
Which case and PSU are you reusing? How old is your PSU?

What do you mean by "video compiling and compression"? Which program(s) do you use for that?

Do you already have a fan-based CPU cooler? If so, what?
 
I will help you get some bang for the buck, and also save some money.
Core i7-930 - $284.99 Not much difference, but it saves you 15 dollars. I bet it will clock just as well.

Gigabyte X58-UD3R - $210 Tri SLI supported, and will OC your 930 way better than your ASUS.

Patriot 6GB DDR3-1600 - $127.99 If you are not using your rig for heavy video editing, the thing is, you won't need full 12GB of memory. 6GB is just fine.

Nice choice of HDD - $150 after PROMO CODE.

OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD - $79.95 after mail-in rebate. Use the money you saved for a faster boot speed, you will love it.

Gigabyte GTX 460 - $189.99 x2 Factory overclocked, nicer cooler as well, so you can overvolt it for some extreme overclocking.
 
First off, look for combo deals. You could easily save some money by buying the i7-930 and the Gigabyte X58-UD3R together. The i7-930 can overclock just as well as the i7-950 and there's only a 200MHz (stock speed) difference between the two.

I hate mail-in rebates -- among many issues, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that they offer instant savings when they don't. Voltage is just as important as bandwidth (aka speed) when overclocking -- are you overclocking? -- so get some RAM that runs at 1.5V to 1.6V. With many of the popular choices being out of stock at the moment, go with something like this Mushkin kit. I agree with lkiller1231 that 12GB of RAM isn't an automatic must for video editing/encoding.

I also agree with the HDD+SSD combination, but I personally prefer a bit more breathing room with my storage drives. If you're going to stick with OCZ (for example), get the newer Vertex 2 60GB SSD. In addition to having more capacity, it also has TRIM, which can aid in its overall performance.

Get 1GB GTX 460s, as the additional memory does give the SLI setup a bit of a performance boost.
 
tiraides said:
I agree with lkiller1231 that 12GB of RAM isn't an automatic must for video editing/encoding.
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It also depends on the video editing software that the OP uses (which he did not specify yet). If he is using an el-cheapo $100 consumer editing software, then there is no point in getting any more than 6GB since all $100 editing software is strictly 32-bit and thus cannot make use of more than about 2 to 3 GB of RAM. However, if the OP intends to use Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (which is strictly 64-bit), then 12GB will be a significant improvement over 6GB, especially with standard-definition MPEG-2 encodes (since the MPEG-2 encoder in Premiere is heavily CPU- and memory-dependent).
 
I currently have a 922 case with all the fans. I have a few other cases laying around but I have a media/storage server so I dont need as much in my case as I used to, hence the mid tower.

I currently have an H50 cooling a 9550 with a high velocity fan replacing the stock one. At 3.28Ghz it's 27c idle and 39c under full load. I was thinking of using this for the I7 or maybe going with the H70.


I have an Ultra 850w Modular power supply and also a 450 watt supplemental video power supply I can use if needed.

The software I use is mostly adobe CS 5. I also rip and compile movies with handbrake and a few other programs for my media server.

I run VM's fairly often. I only surf the web in a VM at home running linux. I also have a few varius VM's setup for other tasks such as older games, Itunes, and porn, all based on VMWare 7.

The reason I chose 12GB ram is I frequently at 8gb drop to or below the 1gb point. Thats with 7x64. When I was running XP x64 I would get much lower than that all the time and had to manage it better myself. 12GB gives me more breathing room and room to upgrade later.

I am not beyond buying an SSD. I have thought about it, but was putting it off as it didnt seem like the performance would be worth it with the extreme size limitation of the drive. TRIM would be a requirement for any SSD wouldnt it?

So far, droping the 950 for a 930. I agree that I can overclock it pretty easily. I just jumped when the price dropped over $200 lol.

Looking at that mobo, it has 2 more SATA ports, which I am always running out of anyway. I think I will go with that combo kit.

Whats the memory consensus after this post? Sorry I should have been more clear in my original post.
 
In that case, then concentrate on getting a new NVIDIA graphics card (the two that we like without breaking the bank are the 1GB GTX 460 and the 1.25GB GTX 470 - the latter now officially supported by Adobe CS5's Mercury Playback Engine for GPU acceleration as of version 5.0.2) and a new 750W to 850W PSU from Seasonic, XFX or Corsair first. This is because the Ultra-branded PSUs range in quality from really shitty to okay-ish (in fact, I have discovered in another thread that Ultra has been using an okay-ish 550W unit and relabeling it as a crappy 750W PSU or a craptacular 850W unit). Plus, CS5 currently does not make any use of the second GPU. CS5 is still workable with only 6 or 8 GB of RAM, but will always work better with 12GB or more of RAM.
 
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KarsusTG said:
I have an Ultra 850w Modular power supply and also a 450 watt supplemental video power supply I can use if needed. .
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Which Ultra 850W PSU do you have?

KarsusTG said:
Whats the memory consensus after this post? Sorry I should have been more clear in my original post.
Click to expand...

I'd go for this RAM set instead since it's lower voltage than the OCZ:
$280 - G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9T-12GBRL 3 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
 
KarsusTG said:
How is this video card? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125338

They say it runs cooler than a normal 470.
Click to expand...

Maybe so. But for all practical purposes you'd be paying about $58 more than you should for a GTX 470 because it has been shown that factory overclocking of that 470 does not translate into anywhere near that percentage of an increase in graphics performance (or put it this way, a 20% to 25% factory overclock translates into a less than 5% increase in gaming graphics performance).
 
E4g1e said:
Maybe so. But for all practical purposes you'd be paying about $58 more than you should for a GTX 470 because it has been shown that factory overclocking of that 470 does not translate into anywhere near that percentage of an increase in graphics performance (or put it this way, a 20% to 25% factory overclock translates into a less than 5% increase in gaming graphics performance).
Click to expand...


rgr. Not really worried that much about gaming graphic performance. I would like to be able to start folding with my video card, but was mostly looking at the cooling. I dont think it would be that big of a deal, there are plenty of dual cooling cards for cheaper, or I could put my own cooling on the card.


Water cooling is a solution also, although not a cheap one.
 
Power supply model number: ULT-HE0850X

Budget is $1600 +/- 200 for the initial build.

I figure since I have the monitors, keyboard/mouse, case, PS (maybe) I should be able to stay in that budget. I would be able to add to that later if I needed to.

I looked up a few reviews for that power supply. It really hasnt had any bad reviews. I have not had any problems with it either. Still not beyond replacing it if the overall community thinks it's wiser though. PS's are def something I am willing to invest in.

Anyone had any problems with that visiontek?
 
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KarsusTG said:
Power supply model number: ULT-HE0850X
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That is actually an Ultra X3 800W PSU. It was a decent PSU when it was introduced nearly three years ago - but now, it has gotten aged and a little outdated. Plus, all PSUs degrade in performance over time.
 
What would you recommend then? I have 650, corsair I believe. Non modular thats 5 or 6 years old.
 
That doesn't sound right considering that Corsair didn't release its first PSU, the modular 620HX, until 2006. No way could you have a Corsair 650W that's 5-6 years old. Might want to double check that.

Assuming that you have the Corsair 650TX, as long as you don't OC past 3.6Ghz, the 650TX will be ok for a Core i7 and GTX 460 1GB SLI.
 
hehe, I was way wrong. It was a coolmaster 650 Model RS-650-acaa-a1

As I stated previously. It's non modular hehe.
 
KarsusTG said:
hehe, I was way wrong. It was a coolmaster 650 Model RS-650-acaa-a1

As I stated previously. It's non modular hehe.
Click to expand...

LOL!

Yeah you're looking at a new PSU. I recommend these:
$115 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU
$130 - Corsair 850TX 850W PSU
$150 - XFX XPS-850W-BES 850W Modular PSU
$150 - Corsair 950TX 950W PSU
 
According to my list above, it totals as $1232. Leaves you about 200 bucks for a power supply.

Here I will give you a best one that suits your needs.

Corsair AX750 - $149.99 after rebate. Best power supply for the money right now, and don't forget that this is a 80PLUS GOLD rated power supply. This monster can handle a 750W for 24/7. Oh and also, it is fully modular.

Silverstone Strider 1000W - 174.99 after rebate. Excellent deal for a 1KW power supply, especially being a Silverstone and a 80PLUS SILVER rating. You will never have to worry about the power again (unless if you are getting a tri-SLI GTX480 system :p).
 
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Swapped power supply for killer's. $1677 after shipping and tax. Think I should add that H70 or stick to the H50? Go with something else?
 
Make sure that you use that $30 off promo code the 2TB Black. Otherwise, it's not a good buy. Looks good so far.
 
For the price right now, don't get the H70. Also, the H50 isn't that much better when talking about price/performance.

If you are looking for the best performance out of the box, get the Thermaltake Frio for $59.98. With two high-cfm fans included, this thing beats most of today's aircooling setups straight out of the box.

If you are looking the best performing heatsink for the money, get the Prolimatech Megahalems for $62.00. With no fan included with the package, you will have to purchase a separate fan in order to make this work. If equipped with the right fans, this thing is virtually the air-cooling KING.
 
By the way, don't get that GTX470, especially with the stock cooler. That thing is an oven.

Get the MSI GTX470 Twin Frozr - $319.99 after REBATE. Will clock like crazy if you overvolt it, and it has the best cooler out of the box you can ask on a GTX470. Also, it is factory overclcoked.

If you are worried about rebates, get the Palit GTX470 - $299.99. I've heard that it has a pretty nice cooler, and also 20 bucks cheaper than the EVGA.
 
I swapped the video card out to that MSI one. The only reason I didn't originally was I was told never get an MSI product unless you have a gun to your head. I have had some pretty bad experiences with MSI mobo's also so typically avoid them. The card has good reviews I will get it.
 
I added that FRIO to my build, although I have concerns about it fitting over my ram. It should work though.
 
lkiller1231 said:
Here I will give you a best one that suits your needs.

Corsair AX750 - $149.99 after rebate. Best power supply for the money right now, and don't forget that this is a 80PLUS GOLD rated power supply. This monster can handle a 750W for 24/7. Oh and also, it is fully modular.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to say, I am very very impressed with this power supply.

Oh, and the ram didnt fit with that frio with the ram in the first slot, but luckily the gigabyte board has a really wierd backwards flip flop pattern to their memory slots and I was able to get it to go on :p

So far the builds rockin. Will have everything put together tonight.
 
Well according to windows (lol) my system is a 7.2

Processor (running at 3.36Ghz) 7.6
Memory 7.7
Graphics 7.6
Gaming Graphics 7.6
Primary HDD 7.2! <-- Corsair SSD!

Running at 54c maxed out with that frio @3.36Ghz Whats the max safe operation temp of this chip you think? I really never let me cpu get over 55c for any real time if I can help it but I am told it's actually around 68c. Anyone know?

Also, man this frio moves a stupid amount of air lol.

Thanks for talking me into that video card also. The pics make it look like it's plastic but it's not. It's aluminum and cools pretty decent. Folding @100% it's running at 58c in a complete air case. Pretty decent imo.
 
KarsusTG said:
Running at 54c maxed out with that frio @3.36Ghz Whats the max safe operation temp of this chip you think? I really never let me cpu get over 55c for any real time if I can help it but I am told it's actually around 68c. Anyone know?
Click to expand...

According to Intel, the maximum Tcase temperature (that is, the temperature of the CPU's heat spreader at its center) is 67.9°C. Actual Tjunction temperatures should not reach into the 90s frequently.
 
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